


Blast from the Past

by Creed Cascade (creedcascade)



Series: Geek Squad Verse [5]
Category: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-07
Updated: 2011-11-07
Packaged: 2017-10-25 19:10:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/273761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creedcascade/pseuds/Creed%20Cascade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zeus comes to visit John. John sort of forgot to mention that he was (a) gay now and (b) gay with Matt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blast from the Past

“Mr. McClane, line one on the land line!” Mrs. Kaludis bellowed from her desk.

“I got it! Jesus, woman. I’m right here.”

Mrs. Kaludis smirked and stabbed the transfer button. “It got your attention, sir. Now answer the damn phone.”

Line two on the land line was code for a legit call of someone he probably didn’t want to talk to, but probably had to. Line three on the land line was for other feds that John liked to let linger or have Mrs. Kaludis “lose” in the transfer process. Line one on the land line had been deemed the officer emergency line after the whole Nerf Gun Superglue incident. Line one meant the call was damn important.

“Fine, fine,” John grumbled and grabbed the receiver. “McClane. Speak.”

“Bark! Hey there, you ol’ dog. Don’t you have time for an ol’ friend, you crazy mother-fucker?”

“Zeus!” McClane barked the greeting with a whooping laughing. “I haven’t heard from you since-”

“Last Christmas.”

“Thanks, I got your card and I forgot to send one. Is anything wrong?”

“No, just the opposite. I’m calling to let you know I’m a granddaddy again. A boy this time.”

“I hope your ugliness skips a generation for his sake.”

“Thanks,” Zeus chuckled and his tone softened. “My first grandson.”

“Congrats, man.” He tried to ignore the little twist in his own stomach at the mention of grandchildren. As frightening as the thought was, he wasn’t that far from being a grandfather. Zeus being the scary smart bastard he was picked up on it.

“You’re not a grandpa yet?”

“Better not be,” John growled. “Or, I’ll have to-”

“Oh, please. It’s just a matter of time. I know with a boy you’ve only gotta worry about one pecker, but with a girl, you’ve got to worry about the whole City of New York. How’s it going with your kids?”

“Better.” John went to put his feet up on the desk, but stopped when Mrs. Kaludis gave him a dirty look.

“John McClane, Junior?”

“If he heard you call him that, he’d lay waste to you. Jack’s good.” He still smiled when he heard someone call his boy ‘Junior’. There was no denying that his birth certificate said John McClane Junior. Whatever Neanderthal part of John’s brain that had insisted on it in the first place was still pleased he had a namesake. “He calls every Sunday now. We talk about football, but it’s still talking.”

“And your baby girl?”

“Lucy emails me every day and there’s a thing called Yipe-”

“Skype!” Matt shouted from the geek office through the open door.

“Skype,” John corrected automatically with an eye roll. “We’re talking. That’s the important part.”

“Is she still seeing that Farrell kid?”

John groaned and rubbed his palm over his forehead. It had been easier to explain at the beginning of the thing he had with Matt that the kid had a thing with his daughter. In his defence, he never said they were dating. He just said they were friends and let people think what they will. John had come far enough he wasn’t going to hide anymore.

“They’re just friends. Always were.”

“Mmm.” Zeus’ one syllable comment said a whole lot more than it should. I-know-you’re-lying-McClane-you-lying-son-of-a-bitch. “So, I hear you’re a Feeb now. Taking it easy and collecting a fat pay cheque from Uncle Sam.”

“Taking it easy. You have no idea…” John saw a pink and orange flash through the doorway. He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. He knew exactly what was going on. “Nana-chan! I thought I told you to keep your ass planted to that chair!” There was another flash of pink and orange velour jump suit and some sort of random flailing. John narrowed his eyes. “Matt! I thought I told you knuckleheads to take that song off her iPod!”

This time the pink-orange streak was followed by a hobbling blue streak that was Matt chasing after Nana-chan. “We did! But… oh, damn. Girl, put the action figure down! We’re all geniuses and she can figure out how to put a stupid song back on… Nana-chan! Okay, okay, we’re sorry! Don’t take it out on poor Aqua Man!”

John decided it was a minor geek squabble that Matt could deal with. John might head up the criminal side of the unit, but Matt was the leader of the geek squad. He was actually a good manager even if John never quite understood the unorthodox leadership style. Matt spoke their language and they respected him and his skill. “Deal with it!”

John sighed and brought the receiver back to his face. “Zeus, you still there?”

“Yeah.” Zeus was chuckling.

“Sorry about that.”

“What was all that about?”

“You don’t want to know. Hell, I don’t want to know. Welcome to my life. Don’t you ever say my life is boring. Geek wrangling is a fulltime, aggravating job.”

“They’re geeks. They’ve gotta be harmless.”

John sputtered and thought of all the shit the team had gotten up to. Sure, there were tantics that burned off the excessive energy, but when it came down to it, they were scary-focused. There was nothing quite as scary as when the geek office was quiet. It either meant they were plotting, or the job had hit an important turning point. At moments like that, all you could hear was the click-click-click of the keyboard. Like a well oiled machine, they gelled when they were needed and finished each other’s sentences as they finished their objective… whether that was cracking the last level of a new video game, or taking down an international crime ring.

“Geeks can be vindictive if you cross them, Zeus. They do shit I could never even conceive of. And, I’m not just talking about putting some homophobe on the no-fly list. They can convince the Feds-”

“You’re the Feds now, McClane,” Zeus reminded him with glee.

“Shut up. Call me a Feeb again and I’ll sick my geeks on you. They can convince the Feds that you’re a three-legged Bavarian goat if they want, too. Hell, by the time they finish with all the records and stuff, they’ll convince you that you’re a three-legged Bavarian goat.”

Zeus’ tone was curious. “Three-legged Bavarian goat? That’s not really you. You’ve changed, man.”

John pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d been spending way too much time listening to Matt’s rants. “Whatever. They can do pictures, too. Next thing you know your high school year book will have a photo of a three-legged goat above your name.”

There were some thumping noises from the geek office. Nana-chan and Matt came into view of the doorway. Matt had his cane up and was slashing at Nana-chan, who countered with a purple Hello Kitty umbrella. John exchanged a grin with Mrs. Kaludis. By the smile on Matt’s face, they were both enjoying themselves. Ever since Matt took up the cane fighting classes, his confidence had boosted and an occasional mock battle broke out in the geek office.

Each of the geeks had their own weapon. Matt, of course, had his cane and Nana-chan had her Hello Kitty umbrella. Warlock had some sort of big stick he claimed was a magic staff, but looked like a big stick to John and he made sure he told him that all the damn time just to aggravate him. He felt even more protective of Matt’s friends now once he learned that they had all signed up for the cane fighting classes so Matt wouldn’t have to do it alone. Sure, they sported bruises and had broken several monitors, but Matt was happy. It didn’t hurt that they were learning to defend themselves outside of a virtual environment.

There was an especially loud thump-crash-groan that John immediately identified as Warlock. “Frankie, stop being a shit and don’t spin your stick like a freakin’ band geek!”

Warlock’s muffled response made John smile. “It’s a magical staff!”

“Stick! I bet you hit yourself in the forehead again!”

“I told you to wear the Storm Trooper helmet!” Nana-chan chimed in.

The silence was answer enough that Warlock would be sporting a new forehead bruise. It turned out he was the worst one in the class. John signalled for Mrs. Kaludis to go check on her boy and she toddled off, tutting under her breath. On her way into the room she grabbed the first aid kit and was already pulling out a Scooby-Doo Band-Aid.

“Sorry, man,” John sighed into the phone. “Sadly, this is old hat around here.”

“Sounds like fun. So, I’m in town in a few weeks. If you’re not too busy saving the world, I thought we could get together.”

“Could be dangerous. Do you have a place to stay?” The words fell out of his mouth before he realized it. It was polite. It was what you automatically did for an old buddy. John smacked his forehead with the phone receiver.

“What was that noise?”

“Nothin’.”

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind crashing at your place for a night. My flight comes in late and the next one’s not until the next day. It probably beats sleeping on the floor of the airport. Unless you’re a hopeless slob.”

“I live in a regular garbage heap.”

“I bet. One night bedding down with the garbage rats won’t hurt. Since you’re all into the computer age now, I’ll email you my flight info because you’re picking my ass up from the airport. I hate driving in your neck of the woods.”

“I can arrange that.” John was trying to figure out how to explain his relationship with Matt and every explanation he could come up sounded lame. “Listen, Zeus, I sort’ve-”

“Oh, crap. Gotta go, McClane. Don’t kill anyone.”

Zeus hung up before he could finish speaking. John stared at the phone and listened to the dial tone. “Crap.”

By the sounds coming from the geek office, they had moved onto screaming insults at each other in pirate voices. John slammed the phone down and thumped the back of his head on the chair. “It’s gonna be a long fuckin’ day.”

++++++

“I get it, John. You’ve got this whole macho brother-in-arms thing going on with him. You survive that kind of shit with someone and you bond.”

John’s brow wrinkled. “I survived that kind of shit with you.”

“Different kind of shit. I’ve read the newspaper reports.”

“No less shit-like…” John sighed and tried to keep up with Matt’s weird logic.

“They both sucked. But, you still bonded.”

“I…” John waved his hand with a Matt. “I bonded with you.”

“You fucked me. I hope you… Oh my God, you didn’t sleep with Zeus did you?”

John sputtered and was wordless, trying not to either laugh or scream.

“Because I can live with the whole buddy thing, but not an ex staying over at our place. And, if you did, he’s so not what I thought your type was… you said I was your type, and he’s married. You told me you never cheated on-”

John laid one hand over Matt’s mouth to shut-him-the-hell-up and used the other to smack him up the back side of the head. “I didn’t sleep with Zeus. He’s just a buddy who I got into some shit with. I don’t gotta type. I got you. I don’t cheat. I never cheated on Holly and I’ve never… I’ll never cheat on you. Understand?”

“Sorry,” Matt mumbled behind John’s palm.

John ran his free hand over Matt’s forehead and through his hair. “I’ll forgive you since your brain’s all mush from not sleeping due to that big project. I know you get all loopy and dumb.” He removed his hand and framed Matt’s cheeks, laying a gentle kiss on his lips. He wasn’t going to let Matt fall into his old insecurities. “I’m not a cheater.”

“I know. I’m sorry. You’re like the opposite of a cheater. You’re one of those mate for life kind of guys. We’ve got a new life here and I…” He blinked a few times and smiled. “I haven’t slept in thirty seven hours. Don’t tell Mrs. Kaludis, but we brought back the Tang, but it’s Nuevo Tang. That’s what we’re calling it, or Tang-with-a-kick. We made Tang, and Warlock synthesized a caffeine additive. And, poof! Or, we could call it Kick-Ass-Tang, but Warlock doesn’t want to say ass in front of his mom, but I told him he wouldn’t have to say it in front of her because we don’t want her to know, but Nana-chan said she would know what we were doing anyways, but then-”

“Stop saying but.”

Matt giggled and bit his bottom lip. “You said butt.”

“No, I said, but… oh, stop it.”

He couldn’t be mad at the kid. The case they had been working on this week had taken its toll on everyone. The team had pushed itself to the limit and past that. There had been no games or light hearted jokes as they worked on a case involving children. It had all paid off in the end as much as it could. The team had exceeded all expectations providing the Feds with ample information for a raid and prosecution. On the side, John knew they were busy pulling some off-the-record-voodoo to ensure the kids got a college fund and the perps got messed up bad. He had tried to call Zeus to cancel, but the man’s cell was off while he was flying.

“You did good, boy,” John told him and he felt minute shiver run up through Matt’s back as he pulled him close. Matt was vulnerable like this and John knew his insecurities and old demons came back. Issues of abandonment and self-doubt were the biggest.

John didn’t want to think about the issues that orbited around this aspect of their relationship too much. It didn’t come out too often. John really did respect Matt and treated him with respect, thinking of him as an equal. But, that didn’t change the fact that he was an overprotective bastard and there was a part of Matt that needed to hear the praise come from John.

He had heard Nana-chan and Warlock whispering once when they thought he wasn’t around, saying that Matt had some daddy-issues, but that made John a little sick inside. He preferred to think that he liked to take care of someone and Matt liked to be taken care of sometimes. He didn’t like to dwell too much on their dynamic, but it worked for them. They were happy and far less self-destructive together than apart.

He held Matt close, knowing this case had been difficult for him and dredged up memories from his time in foster care. “You made a difference today.”

Matt had his face pressed against John’s chest and was drooling a little bit onto his shirt. He glanced up at him with heavily lidded, bloodshot eyes. “I think I’m hallucinating. I’m not seeing pink elephants, but you’ve got old school Mario and Luigi orbiting your head. That’s not good.”

“I won’t tell Bowman that you’re high on caffeine.”

“Not anymore. Crashing.”

Matt was all but leaning all of his weight onto John. “No shit.”

“But, your friend…”

“Will understand.” John wondered if he could get Matt to their bedroom, but decided the couch was the better answer for now. He wanted to keep him where he could see him. John manoeuvred and mostly carried Matt over to the couch. “C’mon, kid.”

“Oh, look. King Koopa! Did I ever tell you that Princess Peach is a bitch?”

“Uh huh.” John carefully laid Matt onto the over stuffed leather couch, making sure not to jostle his bad knee.

“I can still see the code running through my head,” Matt mumbled and yawned. “My brain won’t shut off.”

He put a pillow under Matt’s head and another under his knee. “Think about your pie. That usually puts you to sleep.”

“My pie,” Matt chuckled and snuggled into the couch. “It’s Pi, a math constant, not a cherry pie.”

“Whatever.” John covered Matt with a faded blanket they kept on the back of the couch. He sat on the arm and started to massage Matt’s temple. “It’s as good as counting sheep for you.”

“Fine. I’ll try it, but I’m not really that tired. I know I’m so tired that I’m not tired, which is a double negative… not a positive cancels out a negative, or something like that…”

“Matty...” John started to run his fingers through Matt’s hair.

“Right, Pi. 3.1415926535… It’s not working.”

“Keep going.”

John smiled because it was working. Matt might be fighting it, but every sign pointed to the fact that his brain was giving into the inevitable sleep. Matt huffed and made quiet sleepy sounds that made John wanted to fuck him to sleep. That would have been his favourite option if Zeus wasn’t expected any minute now.

“8979323846 2643383279… you’ll come to bed soon?”

John nodded and pushed Matt’s bangs out of his eyes. “Sure.”

“Numbers are my… 5028841…. Friends… 971 6939937510…”

The last few numbers weren’t understandable as Matt abruptly stopped talking and completely crashed. John leaned down and softly kissed his forehead. “Sweet dreams, Matty.”

John stayed there, keeping guard and fighting his own exhaustion until the door bell squawked its cracked sad tone. Matt didn’t even budge at the sound and John hauled himself up and over to the door. Zeus was standing there with a pissed off expression John remembered. All that was missing was a baseball bat.

“A limo, asshole?” He took one look at John and shook his head. “Saving the world, again? You look like shit.”

“Thanks. And the limo is on the FBI’s dime, so stop bitchin’ because it got your ass here.” He waved inside the apartment. It was a complete disaster with dirty dishes and pizza boxes stacked everywhere. “Bad case. Really bad case. Kids.”

Zeus sauntered into the apartment and glanced around. There were pictures of John’s kids on the walls and it didn’t smell like smoke. It wasn’t fancy, but it wasn’t a dump either. It was “lived in” with comfortable furniture and a big ass television hung on the wall. There were also several signs that someone other than John McClane lived here. The Halo poster was a good sign… several expensive gaming consoles were another… but the biggest was the young man passed out on the couch.

“That’s the Farrell kid, isn’t it?”

John said down on a kitchen stool with his shoulders slumped. “I’m not lying. We got a thing. If you don’t like it, then fuck off.”

“You’re an asshole if you think I’m a prejudiced asshole.” Zeus gave Matt the once over and considered John. His quick mind was just that, quick and smart as always. “How long?”

John sighed and rubbed his own temples. “Since the Fire Sale.”

Zeus shoved a few pizza boxes out of the way and leaned against the kitchen counter. “You’ve got it bad, huh?”

“You’ve got no idea.”

Zeus smirked and shook his head. “I’ve got a bit of an idea. You’ve got it bad enough that you’ve retired from the NYPD without being drug away in a body bag. I bet… no, I know that boy’s got you wrapped around his little finger and I bet you love it, though you’d never admit to it. I also bet that he’s the best thing to happen to you in a long time and you’re not too bad for him either. It isn’t a mid-life crisis. You don’t know what it is, but you like it and it frightens the hell out of you. You work, live, and…” He pointed towards their shared bedroom. “Do whatever else it is the hell you do, together. That about cover it?”

“In a nutshell. Yeah.”

Zeus clapped John on the shoulder. “You never did anything easy, did you McClane?”

“Not by a long shot.”

“So… geek wrangling?”

“That’s what I call it. Bowman… the guy who thinks he’s in charge has a big long title I refuse to memorize and we’re some sort of taskforce. Matt and his friends catch bad guys using computers. I make sure the geeks don’t implode and when the bad guys need arresting, I arrange that. It works.”

“Other than looking like a walking zombie, you look good. You quit smoking.”

John glanced over to Matt. “Didn’t have a choice. You’re good I take it?”

“Yeah. Got my family. Got my business. Same old, same old. I’m not sleeping on the floor. I’m too old for that nonsense.”

“We’ve got a spare room. Well, we managed to squeeze a bed into Matt’s office next to all his collectible stuff and electronic toys,” John admitted and smirked. He felt relieved that this was going so well. John never wanted to have to choose between Matt and his old friend, because Matt would always win and he liked keeping in touch with Zeus since they had history.

“I’m happy for you, McClane.”

John had never been good at social niceties. “Want to watch a Yanks game? Matt taped it for me on the Tivo thing. I never got a chance to watch it this week.”

Zeus nodded and was a hairsbreadth away from laughing. “We can do that.”

“There’s beer in the fridge and I think some leftover pizza. It’s not too old. Or, we can order something fresh.” His brain was starting to fog over from lack of sleep. They’d taken a cab home since he didn’t trust himself to drive safely. John got up and shuffled over to the couch. Matt didn’t wake up when he sat down and shifted Matt’s head onto his lap. “Menu’s are on the fridge.”

“I’ll see what hasn’t be eaten by your cockroaches.”

“We don’t have bugs. Not even computer bugs, ‘cause Matt wouldn’t stand for that.” He reached over and grabbed the expensive remote control that Matt bought. “You should get one of these things. All I’ve gotta do is press ‘watch TV’ and it turns on everything. We used to have five remotes. This Tivo thing is alright. Way easier than a VCR, though I never did get a DVD player. Didn’t see the point.” John jabbed a few more buttons Matt had showed him how to use and got the game on.

Zeus had managed to find some not-too-old-pizza from the fridge and was chewing on the tough crust. “But, Matt wanted the Tivo thing, so you got it?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm hmm.” He plopped down in the recliner and smirked at John.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothin’. Watch the game, asshole.”

“I’m watching the game, jackass. I bought you the New York Times with the extra hard crossword puzzle. It’s on the coffee table. Matt bet me… well, I’ll say, for your sake, five bucks, that you’d do it in pen,” John shot back and laughed. Zeus didn’t seem uncomfortable at all. “It’s good to see you, again.”

“You too.”

It wasn’t like having a guest in your house. John didn’t like having most people in his territory. It made him edgy and uncomfortable. Lucy was the only one who was welcome, because she was family and accepted Matt. Zeus felt like family and they fell into an easy silence watching the game. John started caressing his fingers through Matt’s hair in a continuous rhythm. Sometime during the first half of the game he drifted off into sleep.

When John woke up, it was thirteen hours later. The apartment was empty and filled with sunshine. His back hurt and John had a crick in his neck from sleeping upright on the couch. Matt kept sleeping as John got up with a low groan and a hand on his lower back.

He found a scrawled note from Zeus written on a pizza box.

 

I let myself out and called a cab. Don’t worry, I locked up on my way out. You were dead to the world and I figured you two deserved to sleep after saving the world from what I’m sure is some crazy shit. It was good to see you again, McClane, even if it wasn’t for that long. Don’t fuck this up. I think the kid’s good for you.

Matt, you’re a saint for taking the old goat on, but he’s not too bad. Take care of him.

My wife says you’re both coming to visit because heroes like you forget to take vacation. I’d start planning if I was you, because I’d be very afraid of crossing that woman.

Zeus

 

John ripped off the top of cardboard box and walked over to the closet. He rummaged around a bit until he took down an old shoe box. Amongst the mementos were drawings Holly had done as a kid and newspaper clippings from the local newspaper following Jack’s junior baseball career. He had always displayed photos of the kids in his crappy apartments. And, no matter what they thought, he had always been a part of their lives. He had his ex-wife ship him tapes of their games and recitals when he couldn’t be there. It was the only reason he got a VCR in the first place. He used to call when he got back from a hard day, but Holly would tell him it was too late or too early, or they were at a friend’s place. He always sent a birthday card, even if they didn’t remember it since it got lost in the pile from friends and family. There was a button in there from the dress Holly had been wearing the first time they met. He still loved her in a small way since she was the mother of his kids.

But, the newest edition to the box had been small mementos from Matt. There was a sketch of John as a cowboy he’d done in the hospital that said yippe-ki-yay-mother-fucker. Matt had been doped up on painkillers when he doodled it and John thought it was funny, so he sneaked it into his pocket before Matt could throw it out. There were also a few newspaper clippings touting Matt as a new age hero, once of which happened to be their first picture together.

John put the note on top of the rest. Zeus counted as one of his true and few real friends. It meant a lot to him that Zeus had accepted this new aspect of his life.

Now he had every intention of carrying Matt back to the bedroom, phoning into Bowman that they’d be taking at least three days off, sleeping the rest of the day away, and fucking Matt’s brains out when they both woke up fully. He sauntered back to the couch thinking it was time to use the handcuffs as a reward for Matt.

He decided that was damn good plan.

END.


End file.
